Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 10,913 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 284,865 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 10,913 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $71,887,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Forum Financial Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.8% during the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 2,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $755,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.0% during the first quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 902 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% during the first quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,199 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $525,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $703,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ECL. Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $273.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho upped their price target on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $290.71.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $273.45 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $274.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.56 billion, a PE ratio of 36.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $267.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $257.94.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The company had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 34.71%.

About Ecolab

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Global Industrial; Global Institutional & Specialty; and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences. The Global Industrial segment offers water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions to manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, metals and mining, power generation, pulp and paper, commercial laundry, petroleum, refining, and petrochemical industries.